The popular opinion of late is that the Raiders will most likely release or trade Aidan O’Connell before the start of the season, but is there a chance Klint Kubiak and company could decide to go into the season with three quarterbacks?
It might seem a little unorthodox, but Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers made an interesting argument to consider keeping O’Connell on the roster for the final year of his rookie deal.
“As much as I agree… it would be rare to see a team carry three quarterbacks, I’m starting to think more and more that they’re going to carry three quarterbacks,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show.
“I’ve been fully on like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to only be two.’ But you know, there’s been some points that have been brought to my attention that have made me pause and think about that. You know, if Kirk Cousins starts, let’s just hypothetically [says] Kirk Cousins starts and he has to go out and he goes into the blue tent, maybe, you know, he goes into concussion protocol, or they go to test them out and Fernando comes on the field. How difficult is it going to be to take him off?”
“There’s actually a world where Fernando could start the season as the third quarterback like Jared Goff did when he was drafted in LA. Again, it’s very rare, but it’s a possibility just because if you get Fernando on the field, I think it’s going to be very difficult to all of a sudden pull him off. So you might want to have your options.”
Raiders keeping O’Connell could turn Cousins into a trade commodity
The other benefit to keeping O’Connell is that his presence would give the team some options with Cousins around the trade deadline.
“Kirk Cousins might end up becoming a good trade bait by the trade deadline,” Myers said.
“A team could lose their quarterback and he’s a bona fide starter. [Cousins] might get a chance to go start over there because they need a quarterback. There’s a few different options that they could play in this scenario. So as much as I’ve always thought that they were only going to carry two [quarterbacks], I’m starting to lean that it might make sense for them to carry three. Matter of fact, Aiden O’Connell, I know he’s in a contract year. What if he ends up being the long-term backup to Fernando Mendoza when it’s all said and done?”
For what it’s worth, the California Post’s Vinny Bonsignore also mentioned the idea of the Raiders potentially trading Cousins at some point in the 2026 season.
Bonsignore said he brought up the possibility of trading Cousins to people in the Raiders’ building but stopped short of sharing their response.
With that in mind, why would Bonsignore bring up the conversation if people in the building gave him the impression the team wouldn’t consider trading Cousins?
Just something to keep in mind depending on how the first half of the season shakes out.
x: @raidersbeat